shutupweasley:

I’ll answer on behalf of my Drarry blog as well. :) Well, first, your friend is entitled to like/not like a character and that’s her opinion. (Probs not what you wanted to hear, hey).

BUT I love Draco and will defend him til my dying breath, so here goes. *cue Be Prepared song from Lion King*

Draco is one of the most complex characters in the story; taking away any biased feelings you have towards him, he is, at first, a boy who bullied others, especially those who he thought was less fortunate than himself - not unlike Dudley Dursley. However, Draco is a jealous kind of character, and as a boy who was raised as a golden prince in his household, he just couldn’t understand why he suddenly wasn’t the most important person in the room, whereas Dudley just wanted to make fun of Harry. I think when he was in his first few years, Draco lashed out his hate based on jealousy. Because Hermione is a Muggle-born, he couldn’t stand the fact that this Muggle-born was better than him in magical classes; how dare a Muggle-born beat him when he had all the magical upbringing and his lineage is pure and full of powerful magic?! His entire childhood life was basically an upbringing of “Draco, this is how the wizarding hierarchy goes: at the top, it’s us Malfoys, then royal purebloods, then purebloods, halfbloods, blood traitors, squibs, peasants, then mudbloods at the bottom of the chain”. As for Ron, that was easy - he was poor, and he had less material belongings than Malfoy - an easy target for Draco, who had everything Ron couldn’t afford, plus he didn’t excel in Quidditch or classes, yet he was still best friends with the Chosen One and that, beyond anything, infuriated Draco. And as for Harry, jealousy again played a major part. But let’s not forget one crucial point: Draco wanted to be friends with Harry when he first met him. He was an eleven year old boy, raised to act superior over others, yet he saw Harry as an equal. He didn’t see Crabbe or Goyle as equals; that much is clear. But he wanted to be straight-up, on-par friends with Harry, because of Harry’s celebrity status. Sure, it might not have been for the right reasons, but Draco had been brought up in an environment where status was everything - can you really blame a child for wanting to make friends based on what his entire upbringing was about? Could you imagine how different Draco would have turned out had Harry been Sorted in Slytherin? (This will forever frustrate me, because then we all know how powerful of an influence Harry would have been on Draco’s life).

As Draco got older, he realised that the golden trio had something that he hadn’t truly experienced: real friendship. That led to more jealousy and hatred towards them, and so he did what he could to make their lives miserable. Was it petty? Yes. Was it unreasonable? Yes, of course. Was it understandable? A tiny bit, yes. Imagine being Draco Malfoy; crown jewel of your House and led to believe that you are one of the most important families in the wizarding world. And then three ordinary kids, nay, three far more unfortunate kids who are orphaned, poor, and with no magical lineage rank their way up the school ladder, constantly getting into adventures and trouble together, and yet somehow, always getting away with it. All the teachers love them, despite the fact that two of them are not the brightest lightbulbs. And who should come along in fifth year, but a new teacher who finally wants to change things around Hogwarts and punish Potter and others for breaking the rules? Of course Draco wanted to be part of the Inquisitorial Squad; finally, finally a chance to get his revenge on Potter for not shaking his bloody hand in first year and getting up to so much shit and getting away with it because he’s Harry fucking Potter.

And then in sixth year, you see a whole different side to him. His entire fucking world is falling apart, and everything he has known and loved is being changed or destroyed. His family’s been shamed, his father is in prison, and he’s been given a huge fucking responsibility, one that would surely destroy the sixteen year old kid in the process. Draco was SIXTEEN when he was forced to MURDER HIS OWN HEADMASTER. Yeah, sure, Harry was only seventeen when had to sacrifice his own life, but Harry has an innate hero personality, and while that would have been hard and it was incredible of him, it doesn’t surprise any of us. Draco, on the other hand, is asked the opposite of Harry - he has to take another life. And when you think about, because Draco is not inherently evil, like Harry is inherently good, that makes the task so much harder, not to mention it’s killing your fucking principal at school, who Draco knows is a decent man, and a bombass wizard. And no, Draco did not have a fucking choice. His father, the only man Draco truly looked up to, the one who raised him, is in prison and the only way he can get him out is if he kills someone. Not to mention, Voldemort was gonna kill Draco if he couldn’t do it. So there’s that. Yep. Sure. No pressure at all, kid. Imagine being sixteen and having your entire world turned upside down and everything you love is being taken away from you, and you realise that you have no real friends you can go to to talk about it and you see that everyone else hates you for what you did in the past - it’s not exactly easy to deal with.

Also let’s not forget that Draco saved the trio’s ass at Malfoy Manor - it might not have seemed like much but for Draco that’s a huge fucking step forward. And then in DH all he cared about was his family and that was it, and you have to admire him for that. Ultimately, he didn’t care who won or lost, like Narcissa didn’t, either, although he knew deep down that Harry was doing the right thing - and that maybe, a world without Voldemort would be nice and peaceful. Draco loves his parents so fucking much and he would do anything for them, which is why he signed up for Death Eaters in the first place, not to mention, idk if anyone has told u, but Voldemort is kind of influential like that hahaha.

I am not saying what Draco did was okay in the earlier books; his treatment towards Ron and Hermione was appalling and uncalled for, but a lot of his behaviour has to do with his upbringing - Lucius was a huge influential factor his in life, as was Snape, who also wanted to make Harry’s life shit. So, the fact that the two most influential and powerful figures in his life hated Harry most likely egged Draco on - not to mention, he sought approval from them, too. He was so much more than just a pretty pureblood rich boy who made Harry’s life hard at school; he has so many layers, and oh god, was he scared. Scared of not being looked up to; scared of not being loved; scared of no one giving him any attention; scared for his own goddamn life; scared for his family. He was terrified, and no, he wasn’t the bravest man, but I think know there is so much more to him than the “I’m pureblood so I’m better than u” trope that everyone is associating him with.

I’m sorry I didn’t expect this post to be this long. I just. Wow. I never fully realised how much I loved Draco until I wrote this out. Anyway, I’m sorry you had to read this and it’s probably awful but I hope your friend can open her eyes and see things from a different point of view now but if she still doesn’t like Draco that’s okay. <3